Purdy: San Francisco 49ers' whole season changed by ugly loss to the Seattle Seahawks

SEATTLE -- It was a dark and stormy night. Was it ever. In just one evening, over four quarters of rancid football, the whole season changed for the 49ers.

We won't know completely how much it changed for another week, when we see how the playoff brackets are set. But the 42-13 loss to the Seahawks here Sunday puts the 49ers in an entirely different geographic location moving ahead.

Go to a football map. Find the continent of hurt. That's where the 49ers are currently situated. Literally and figuratively.

Listening in the locker room afterward, the voices didn't even sound like a 10-4-1 team.

"I wouldn't say they took us out of our game plan," said 49er safety Dashon Goldson. "They just played a better game than us."

"I don't think there's anything that we can feel good about right now," said head coach Jim Harbaugh. "We didn't do good enough. We didn't coach well enough, didn't play well enough ... ''

We get the idea. If this was a statement game, here was the statement: This may not be such a holly jolly romp into the Super Bowl for the 49ers that many expected.

In fact, it almost surely won't be. The certified butt-kicking by Seattle explains why, after that impressive victory over New England a week earlier, some of us advised caution. Sunday's game at CenturyLink Field always loomed as the larger one in terms of playoff ramifications.

And as the evening progressed, those ramifications kept ramifying into worse and worse scenarios.

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A victory over Seattle would have set up the 49ers as a probable second seed in the NFC, giving them a bye week in the first round and requiring them to win just twice (with one game guaranteed at home) to reach the Super Bowl.

Now? Sunday's loss drops the 49ers down to the NFC third seed -- which, if form holds next week, would eliminate a bye week. It would also create a path to the Super Bowl that might first require the 49ers to post a wild-card round victory at home over Minnesota or Chicago, followed by a road win at Green Bay and yet another win at Atlanta.

It might even lead, at some point, to a rematch against these same Seahawks who inflicted Sunday's trouncing. Even the Seattle players seemed stunned at how they had outplayed the 49ers in all 73 phases of the game -- or however many phases you can be outplayed.

"If you would've told me this would be the outcome, I wouldn't have believed it," said Seattle defensive back Richard Sherman, the former Stanford player. "I would say you're making this up. There is no way we thought we were going to beat this team like this."

The most significant result may not have been the numbers on the scoreboard. Every few minutes, key 49er players fell by the wayside with injuries, casting doubt on their availability for the regular season finale against Arizona at Candlestick Park. The 49ers must now win that one to clinch the NFC West title.

Let's review the list of wounded and limping:

Out for the entire game was Justin Smith, the concrete foundation of the defensive line. He was made inactive before kickoff because of the unspecified arm injury he sustained against the Patriots -- and at least one television network report has Smith missing next week's start, as well. The fears that his absence would damage the effectiveness of fellow lineman Aldon Smith, who finished the night with no sacks, proved true. And said 49er safety Donte Whitner of Justin Smith's absence: "I think it's a big deal ... He is a huge part of this defense, we all know it and he's not there right now."

Wide receiver Mario Manningham, returning from two weeks on the inactive list with an injured shoulder, was plainly not 100 percent in terms of making aggressive moves toward balls thrown his way — and became even less so in the third quarter when his knee was wrenched in grisly fashion. He was helped from the field and seems doubtful for next week.

Vernon Davis, the 49er tight end who is often a critical part of game plans, sustained a concussion late in the first quarter. It happened on a crushing hit by Seattle defender Kam Chancellor, who was penalized on the play but managed to put Davis out for the rest of the night. Davis told Harbaugh it was only a "mild concussion." But that's no guarantee that the tight end will be back in action next weekend.

Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback in which Harbaugh has invested so much trust since promoting him ahead of Alex Smith, was not injured physically but appeared to be mentally bamboozled and had difficulty coping with the crowd noise.

The NFL is so unpredictable, it could all flip around again in seven days. But the 49ers are no longer in control of their previous top-two seed and have given Seattle a boatload of confidence heading into the playoffs. That's pretty much the definition of a terrible road trip.